We've seen the essentials of this story before, but not at Stanford, not on the team so properly dominated by Andrew Luck and the accompanying torrent of publicity over the previous three seasons.

As the Cardinal stormed into a Rose Bowl berth Friday night with a thrilling 27-24 victory over UCLA, what came to mind, oddly, was the San Francisco Giants.

Traverse the breadth of the Stanford locker room, and there was a story in every direction. As the team climbed en masse aboard an on-field podium to celebrate this victory as one, more than a dozen names seemed vital to the cause. Just as the Giants carried the notion of "team victory" past the tired cliches and straight into championship reality, coach David Shaw's team earned its Pac-12 championship in countless, often improbable ways.

It was all so evident after the game, when quarterback Kevin Hogan and linebacker Chase Thomas addressed the media together inside an interview tent. Here was Thomas, the fifth-year senior, pondering the notion of Rose Bowl - such a cherished destination - after a long and distinguished career. And there was Hogan, the redshirt freshman, a complete non-entity in September, having started just four games and won them all, each against a ranked team.

"Wait a minute, you're a freshman?" Thomas joked as a question came Hogan's way.

What Hogan accomplished was storybook stuff, the kind attached to Marco Scutaro, Barry Zito, Hunter Pence and so many other key contributors to the Giants' world title. It's so perfect that he's a freshman, because it's such a come-from-nowhere tale.

When the Cardinal tied this game 24-24 in the fourth quarter, it came on the kind of play you'd associate with Luck, or any well-seasoned quarterback. Stanford had four receivers going deep downfield, and UCLA attached a safety to tight end Zach Ertz, one of Hogan's favorite targets. Meanwhile, Drew Terrell was streaking toward the right corner of the end zone, about to get two strides ahead of cornerback Sheldon Price.

As Hogan read the safety, giving Terrell some precious time, "he had to hold onto that ball as long as he could," said Shaw. "He threw the ball, took a big hit ..." And the pass found Terrell open in the end zone for a 26-yard touchdown.

UCLA coach Jim Mora called it "busted coverage - a communication breakdown," but for Stanford, it read like poetry.

Just as Giants manager Bruce Bochy hardly knew where to begin when he addressed the particulars of his World Series win, Shaw wouldn't have had time to list his key guys Friday night. There was Stepfan Taylor, who rushed for 78 yards and passed Darrin Nelson as Stanford's all-time career rushing leader. Freshman Kelsey Young ripped off a couple of nice runs. Ed Reynolds shocked UCLA with "the game-changer," as Shaw put it, returning an interception 80 yards to the 1-yard line. Jordan Williamson, his story a full-blown novel in its own right, kicked the decisive field goal with 6:49 left. Safety Jordan Richards was in on 11 tackles defensively, with Thomas (10) and Shayne Skov (9) right behind.

And now comes the Rose Bowl, a star that still glitters in college football's tattered universe, against the winner of Saturday's Big 10 showdown between Nebraska and Wisconsin. Consider a message delivered to those who doubted a post-Luck Stanford team, critics who certainly seemed to have a point after the Cardinal lost to Washington, 17-13, in their fourth game of the season.

"I think if you told me, back then, that we were going to Rose Bowl," said Thomas, "it would have been kinda hard to say that."

Shaw says he never knows exactly what he has, in any given season, until the fourth or fifth game. Even as Stanford took a second loss to Notre Dame, he felt the team element was coming together handsomely.

"We've always had it in the back of our minds to play loose, and play tough, with a chip on our shoulders. And we've done that," Shaw said. "We've proved that we're not a one-man organization. We're a team. We'll be losing a lot of good players, but we'll bring in a lot of good ones next year, and we'll expect to be real good again. Tough, smart kids that play well and make plays."

One hesitates to take the Giants comparison too far. Stanford home games are a tough sell under any circumstances, and as a steady mist fell upon the stadium, Friday night's crowd couldn't have surpassed 25,000. The buildup wasn't terribly special, either, as the teams had played each other just six days before.

The game itself was special. The outcome was spectacular. Stanford hasn't won the Rose Bowl since the glory teams of 1970-71 won two in a row, and if it happens again next month, it won't be traced to one or two players. It will be an outright stampede.